View of fair grounds recently. Wreckers have
taken over where 51.6 million persons once visited exhibits.
Unisphere, rear, will remain after grounds of fair are made into
a park.

WRECKERS PRESS FAIRGROUNDS JOB

Deadline Extended to Dec. 31 --
Landmarks Vanish

By BYRON PORTERFIELD

Professional wreckers are laboring through
the winter months at the World's Fair methodically reducing the
billion-dollar showplace to a relatively quiet mid-Queens park
site.

Where 51.6 million people from all parts of
the world visited the two-year exhibition's pavilions, restaurants
and amusement facilities, the teams of wreckers have taken over.
The principal tools for the enormous demolition project are the
cutting torch, the bulldozer and the wrecker's ball.

The program calls for the removal of more
than 100 structures from the Flushing Meadow fairground and the
restoration of the 646-acre site so a park complex can be created.

Only Park for Now

Because fair revenues fell far short of those
anticipated, the site will be the only park to be developed for
the present out of an elaborate corridor system of parks that
had been envisaged by fair officials as honey-combing the center
of the borough.

Original leases called for the exhibitors
to have their structures cleared and the sites restored within
90 days of the fair's closing date, last Oct. 17.

The deadline has been extended to Dec. 31
of this year, and the wreckers are still ripping away at major
pavilions scheduled for removal. Many sites are leveled and a
fair spokesman said that most of the buildings would be down
by July 1.

Some of the huge pavilions, such as the General
Motors and Ford buildings are being torn and cut apart for lumber
and steel salvage. Other smaller structures have been carefully
dismantled to be reassembled elsewhere.

Shipped to Indonesia

In the latter category, Indonesia's pavilion
was shipped home while Thailand's 18th century Buddhist shrine
is to be reassembled at Montreal for that city's "Expo '67."
Other pavilions have been sold or given away for various uses
-- Denmark's is now a restaurant in Westport, Conn.

However, several prominent buildings and other
structures visible from the Long Island Expressway and the network
of roads in the area, are proving to be headaches for fair officials.
Some receivers took over bankrupt exhibitors, and exhibiting
companies simply haven't disposed of others.

A vexing problem has been posed by one of
the most prominent -- the steep roofed buildings forming the
Belgian Village. The picturesque exhibit had suffered from financial
difficulties even in its construction stages and was finally
opened the day before the fair ended its first season.

Another landmark to be erased is A.M.F.'s
monorail. A contract has been let to demolish its concrete supports,
but the future of the rail system and cars is still up in the
air.

The list of structures that are to become
permanent fixtures include the $4-million Unisphere, the Greyhound
Pavilion (for the city's Fire Department), the $5.8-million marina,
the $8-million Hall of Science and the $1-million Space Park
exhibit.

The fate of the heliport, a $7-million structure,
is still undecided. Negotiations and discussions are continuing
for the massive Federal Building and the building complex of
the New York State Pavilion, each of which cost about $12-million.

Buildings to remain include the press building
(to the Police Department), the administration building (Parks
Department), the Singer Bowl, the entrance building, the post
office and maintenance buildings.

The Wrecking Corporation of America, one of
the major demolition contractors working on the site, is tearing
down the Ford Pavilion. The job is second in size only to the
General Motors Pavilion, which was the biggest wrecking project
on the grounds.

Joseph Hall, a coordinator for the wrecking
concern's many projects at the fairgrounds, said, "the main
delay was in removing exhibits, machinery and fixtures before
wrecking work could be started on the actual structures."

"While it appeared from the outside that
nothing was being accomplished, fairly decent weather has enabled
us to maintain all schedules," he said.

Wrecking projects

The Wrecking Corporation of America's projects
include pavilions and exhibits of R.C.A., National Cash Register,
Johnson's Wax (the steel is to be shipped to Racine, Wis., to
be re-erected for a company theater building), Church of the
Latter-day Saints, Republic of China and U. S. Rubber.

Much of the exhibits' equipment, especially
from the restaurants and amusement centers, was eagerly bought
by amusement park and restaurant operators from all parts of
the country.

Charles R. Wood, a park operator and restauranteur
of Lake George, N. Y., bought the U. S. Rubber ferris wheel and
Greyhound's trams, as well as lighting and ground equipment.

Many of the fair's Walt Disney creations have
been moved to Disneyland in California. They include the Lincoln
exhibit at the Illinois Pavilion, General Electric's Wonderful
World of Tomorrow and the Pepsi Cola "Small World"
exhibit.

Left: A workman rides on the
neck of the Sinclair dinosaur during the dismantling operation.
(NY Times) Right: The wrecking ball
is reducing the Kodak exhibit to rubble. (UPI)

Left: Thailand's pavilion is being crated
for a trip to 1967 fair in Montreal. (UPI)
Above: Crane aids the demolition of the I.B.M. pavilion at
Flushing Meadow site. (Eliovson)

Source: New
York Times, Winter, 1966

_Photo: United
Press International (topmost)

Gone but not forgotten

These are sad days, indeed, for nostalgic World's Fair fans as
they realize that what went up on Flushing Meadow must come down,
that the fantasy of yesteryear's cheery scrapbook is the dross
of today's dreary scrapheap. Where once the fascination of foreign
flavors, pride of industry and gaiety of crowds held sway, there
reigns the rasp of cutting torch, smash of wrecker's ball and
crunch of bulldozer. Among the few structures sure to survive
are the Unisphere and the Hall of Science. But after this painful
phase passes, a relatively quiet park will cover the site.

A 20th Century Humpty-Dumpty, the shell-shucked egg atop IBM is a
sorry reflection of its former self.

If you didn't know better, you might think this was a bomb-blasted
town of World War II ...

... instead of the dying days
of the re-created Belgian Village.

Hold the phone! Here's the Bell System's one-time pride
and joy looking, these days, like an aircraft carrier undergoing
scrapping high in drydock.

The giant
General Motors pavilion
is en route to becoming a vast heap of lumber and steel salvage.
On the other hand, Thailand's is being crated for shipment to
the 1967 exposition in Montreal.

The Vatican pavilion, where Michelangelo's "Pieta"
kindled the souls of millions, makes a chilling scene today.
The wrecker's deadline has been extended to Dec. 31.

The following photos are a contribution
of Bruce Mentone. Judging from the state of demolition and the
condition of the site, they appear to have been taken in April
or May, 1966. Bruce reports he snapped these photos of the demolition
as his father drove him around the perimeter of the Fairgrounds.

The Ford Pavilion showing demolition work on the structural
steel of the main pavilion. The Rotunda still has the pylons
and "Magic Skyway" tubes in place.

The General Motors Pavilion demolition was the largest such job on
the Fair site.

Beyond the debris of the Belgian
Village, workers demolish the rear wall of the Vatican
Pavilion.

The church of the Belgian Village
is reduced to rubble.

Industrial Area demolition makes for a wasteland of
debris. The ovoid theater of the IBM Pavilion can be seen
in the distance as well as the dome and towers of the General
Electric Pavilion in this view taken from the site of the
leveled Pepsi-Cola Pavilion.